


A Tiger Born

by rainy_days (end_untold)



Category: One Piece
Genre: Backstory, Canonical Character Death, Childhood Trauma, Flevance, OSDD Law, headcanons, headmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 20:09:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15469065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/end_untold/pseuds/rainy_days
Summary: A look at how a young Trafalgar D. Water Law coped with the immense trauma of Flevance's eradication.





	A Tiger Born

**Author's Note:**

> cw: mentions of graphic deaths that occurred in Flevance, spoilers if you've not reached Law's backstory yet, mentions of the forming of a headmate protector/prosecutor, mentions of religion, seriously please don't read if trauma and headmate/alter formation talk is triggering.
> 
> I wanted to do a self-indulgent character study on Law and how he coped with his trauma with some headcanons.

They caught on like a house on fire, those two. That is to say, he never really liked fire much, especially since the saying in his case was literal. With his baby sister and parents slain corpses still trapped inside. And well, the town was also on fire. Men with torches and trigger happy fingers swarming about, making quick work to eradicate an entire town. Himself being the only “survivor”, you see.

Carnage lurked everywhere, the stench of blood and burning flesh curling nausea into his shriveled, sickly stomach. Why him? Why did only he escape? What sins did he commit at nine years of age that warranted God’s tempest? Guilt, anger, and indescribable pain ripped through him like the heat bursting through the church’s stained glass panes. Ears ringing, heart threatening to burst. _Weak! Pathetic! This is all your fault!!_  
  
So _yeah_ , put bluntly, he hated him. And he did what anyone with that sort of trauma at a young age, dying of an incurable disease would do. “Kill”. His self shattered to protect the broken little boy that couldn’t handle the pain anymore. And he did.

He became “Law”.

He came out fully, for the first time. Lawrence was no more. He would never be able to move forward from this.

Empty and stripped of meaning, Law turned his anger on the only other ones to blame. The government. God. The entire world. Because he already hated the weakling that was left behind that day, already hid him deep within himself somewhere, but the hurt still remained, shared, between them. He despised and loved that boy in equal measure, he wanted to keep him safe and he wanted to survive but he wanted to destroy everything in his wake because that boy was too weak to have done anything to stop this.

Law was numb and snarling, a tiger pushed into the corner. He was born.

**Author's Note:**

> Note: To be clear on the wordage here: I don't think the host Law was "killed", I think he went into "hibernation" because he couldn't cope so to speak. I don't really think headmates/hosts can "die" as the nature of OSDD/DID/etc is shattered self to survive/fragmented parts hold painful memories etc. I think coping came with the "creation" of Law, the headmate that came to carry the anger and pain to protect the host, somewhat the prosecutor sometimes (or merged with another) to take out feelings of helplessness and I'm sure either them or another is holding memories of these horrific events;;; I think later on host Law will merge/come out of hibernation as his life changes. I want to talk about this further in another fic so the "Lawrence was no more. He would never be able to move forward from this" line isn't completely true. I just wanted to capture what that scene must have felt like if that makes sense.
> 
> Also, I know it might bother with the way he refers to "himself" and "him" and that's valid. Some of this is just based on my own experiences. Don't take it as gospel as I know everyone experiences these things differently.
> 
> If you don't understand what a headmate or OSDD/similar disorders are please do your research, I ain't got the spoons to explain. This is just self-indulgence for me. Valid critique if I misrepresented from others with OSDD/similar disorders is valid and welcomed. Ignorant stigma is not. I will not be allowing discussion here as it's triggering. If any of this is triggering to you I sincerely hope you know you're not alone and you're valid and you deserve love and acceptance. Please call the National Suicide Hotline if you need 1-800-273-8255.


End file.
